DOCSLIB.ORG

The Little Book of BIG Greek Lies

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Little Book of BIG Greek Lies The Little Book Of BIG Greek Lies By Risto Stefov The Little Book Of BIG Greek Lies Published by: Risto Stefov Publications Toronto, Canada All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written consent from the author, except for the inclusion of brief and documented quotations in a review. Copyright 2007 by Risto Stefov e-book edition 2 Index Index...................................................................................................3 PREFACE ..........................................................................................4 Introduction........................................................................................5 BIG Greek Lie # 1 - “Modern Greeks are direct descendents of the Ancient Greeks”.................................................................................6 BIG Greek Lie # 2 - “The Koine Language is Greek”.......................9 BIG Greek Lie # 3 - “The Ancient ‘Greek gods’ were Greek” .......12 BIG Greek Lie # 4 - “There is no such thing as a Macedonian” .....16 BIG Greek Lie # 5 - “Greece is an ethnically homogeneous nation” ..........................................................................................................19 BIG Greek Lie # 6 - “Greeks are a superior race” ...........................22 BIG Greek Lie # 7 - “Greece is a Democratic State” ......................24 BIG Greek Lie # 8 - “Tito created the Macedonian Nation” ...........27 BIG Greek Lie # 9 - “Macedonia is Greek”.....................................29 BIG Greek Lie # 10 - “Greeks claim no Macedonians, Turks, Albanians or Vlachs live in Greece today”......................................32 BIG Greek Lie # 11 - “Macedonian Monks Kiril and Metodi are Greek” ..............................................................................................36 BIG Greek Lie # 12 - “Greek-Macedonians” ..................................42 BIG Greek Lie # 13 - “No Macedonians Exist in Macedonia” .......45 BIG Greek Lie # 14 - “Macedonians are Slavs”..............................48 BIG Greek Lie # 15 - “Greeks are Hellenes”...................................54 BIG Greek Lie # 16 - “The Macedonian Language does not exist” 57 BIG Greek Lie # 17 - “The Ancient Macedonians were Greek” .....61 BIG Greek Lie # 18 - “Philip II United the Greeks”........................67 BIG Greek Lie # 19 - “4,000 years of Greek Civilization” .............70 BIG Greek Lie # 20 - “Macedonia was liberated in 1912, 1913”....77 Conclusion .......................................................................................82 A Macedonian ..................................................................................83 DECLARATION .............................................................................86 NOTES.............................................................................................88 Bibliography.....................................................................................99 3 PREFACE There is no ethnic Macedonian originating from Greece today who doesn’t know what “Greece” and “Hellenism” means to the Macedonian people. Macedonians know exactly how Greece was created and how Greeks were made out of Macedonians. One must look no further than their own village or family to see the process of “Hellenization” at work. Back in Greece I grew up with children whose relatives were Macedonians, today these same children as grown adults swear they are Greeks related to the “ancient Greeks”. Macedonians know exactly how Greece and Greeks were created and have no problem with that. The problem is while “Greeks” are created out of Macedonians, the Macedonians themselves are being robbed of their heritage and identity. The Greeks see no problem with Macedonians volunteering or being forced to accept an artificially imposed identity but will not accept the fact that Macedonians exist. These are some of the conditions under which Macedonians have to live within Greece. The series of articles published on the website www.maknews.com called “From The Little Book of BIG Greek Lies” began as a joke. Inspired by Dedo Kire they were designed to bring humour to the tragic Macedonian condition. Thank you Dedo Kire for the idea, your input and support. The real surprise however, was the vast amount of attention the articles received, not just from Macedonians, but also from Greeks who saw the articles not as humourous but as “a horrible thing to do” not because they were not true but because they were “airing Greek dirty laundry” in public. This series of articles has generated more feedback than all my articles put together. I received e-mails with criticisms that ranged from me being called “a dirty liar” to being threatened with bodily harm. 4 Introduction Our apologies to the Greek people if they find this book offensive. Our objective here is NOT to create tension between the Macedonian and Greek people but rather to highlight the problem that exists within the Greek State and its institutions. As long as the Greek State denies our existence as Macedonians with rights and privileges, we will continue to publish these kind of books. To those numerous Greeks who wrote me to ask “Why are you doing this?” referring to why I wrote the series of articles “BIG Greek Lies”, I say this: For nearly a century we Macedonians have reasoned with you Greeks, defending our Macedonian identity and pleading our case to your governments to level the playing field for Macedonians in Greece without success. We asked that you “Recognize the Macedonian identity in Greece!” Give the Macedonians rights to be Macedonians and to speak their Macedonian mother tongue! And all we received from you is “There is no such thing as Macedonians!” You try to explain our existence by calling us “Paleo-Vulgary” (ancient-Bulgars), “Slavs”, “Skopjans”, “Fyromians”, “Gypsies”, “Tito’s creation”, etc, etc. In other words, every time Macedonians ask for their rights, Greece is quick to deny them, insisting that Macedonians don’t exist and treating Macedonians as second class citizens without even the least basic of human rights. So, the real question is “Why are YOU doing this?” The “Little Book of BIG Greek Lies” is an eye opener for the readers who don’t know much about the life of minorities inside Greece and the real identity of the living Greeks of today. The twenty “BIG Greek Lies” presented here reveal the “Greek Hypocrisy” and the Greek attitude towards its indigenous people and its minorities. To my Greeks opponents I say this: “You had it your way for nearly a century with plenty of opportunity to make things right. Now it’s time for you to reflect on your 19th century creation and see what it has done, not only to the Macedonians but also to all the other cultures it has destroyed in the name of ‘Hellenism’”. Let the airing of Greek dirty laundry begin! 5 BIG Greek Lie # 1 - “Modern Greeks are direct descendents of the Ancient Greeks” (The greatest victims of Greek lies are the Greeks themselves) How can a region in the Balkans where modern Greece is located today, which has been open to a multitude of invasions, conquests and settlements, remain homogeneous and untouched for two thousand seven hundred years? Ironically, as the Greeks claim, how can modern Macedonia, a region neighbouring modern Greece be so heterogeneous that it has completely lost its original identity? These are questions that every Greek should be asking! Ever since Philip II of Macedonia conquered the ancient City States at the conclusion of the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, the region south of Olympus has been without borders and open to all kinds of invasions and barbarian settlements. How can one call a people of 2,300 years ago “Ancient Greeks” since the word “Greek” was not coined until after the Roman conquests, approximately 600 years after the establishment of the City States and approximately 150 years after they were conquered by the Macedonians? If you were to say “the ancient Canadians living on their lands 2,000 years ago” you would be ridiculed and told “there were no ancient Canadians” and the people to whom you are referring who had once lived on the lands of present Canada had nothing to do with the Canadians of today! Yet, everyday you hear the word “ancient Greeks” and you don’t bat an eye! Why is that? It is also well known that the ancient City States were never united politically and never established themselves as a single state. In fact they existed politically independent from one another and fought each other for economic dominance of the region. The name “Greece” was imposed on the modern Greek Kingdom by the Great Powers Britain, France and Russia. Modern Greeks call themselves Hellenes (Ellines) and their state Hellas (Ellas), a name borrowed from the past which neither describes the elements of a nation or those of an ethnicity. By using the name “Greek” to refer to both the ancient and modern people, the Greek state falsely implies descent for the modern Greeks from the ancients. By using the name “Greece” to refer to both the ancient and modern states, the Greek State is falsely implying; 6 (1) continuity between the ancient City States and modern Greece, and (2) that there was some sort of political unity between the ancient City States themselves where one did not exist. In reality the words “Greece” and “Greek” were popularized by modern 19th century writers. There
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Issues of Gender Representation in Modern Greek Art the Case of Thaleia Flora-Caravia’S Photographic Images and Self-Portraits
    p Issues of Gender Representation in Modern Greek Art The Case of Thaleia Flora-Caravia’s Photographic Images and Self-Portraits Despoina Tsourgianni ABSTRACT There is a recent trend, mainly in the fi eld of historiography but also in art history, toward the exploration of female autobiographical discourse, whether it concerns writ- ten (autobiographies, correspondence), painted (self-portraits), or photographic data. On the basis of the highly fruitful gender perspective, this article seeks to present and interpret the numerous photographs of the well-known Greek painter Thaleia Flora- Caravia. These photographic recordings, taken almost exclusively from the painter’s unpublished personal archive, are inextricably linked to the artist’s self-portraits. This kind of cross-examination allows the reader to become familiar with the mosaic of roles and identities that constitutes the subjectivity of female artists in Greece in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. KEYWORDS: autobiography, female artist, modern Greek art, photography, self-portrait p Introduction No opening words could be more appropriate to introduce a study on twentieth- century artist representation than the verses of Rainer Maria Rilke on the painter Paula Modersohn-Becker: So free of curiosity your gaze had become, so unpossessive, of such true poverty, it no longer desired even you yourself; it wanted nothing: holy.1 aspasia Volume 13, 2019: 31–64 doi:10.3167/asp.2019.130105 32 DESPOINA TSOURGIANNI It is of key importance to note the way in which this emblematic poet of modernity perceives the ideal depiction of oneself: as one being stripped of any vanity that leads to the beautifi cation of physical characteristics.
    [Show full text]
  • Albanian Families' History and Heritage Making at the Crossroads of New
    Voicing the stories of the excluded: Albanian families’ history and heritage making at the crossroads of new and old homes Eleni Vomvyla UCL Institute of Archaeology Thesis submitted for the award of Doctor in Philosophy in Cultural Heritage 2013 Declaration of originality I, Eleni Vomvyla confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. Signature 2 To the five Albanian families for opening their homes and sharing their stories with me. 3 Abstract My research explores the dialectical relationship between identity and the conceptualisation/creation of history and heritage in migration by studying a socially excluded group in Greece, that of Albanian families. Even though the Albanian community has more than twenty years of presence in the country, its stories, often invested with otherness, remain hidden in the Greek ‘mono-cultural’ landscape. In opposition to these stigmatising discourses, my study draws on movements democratising the past and calling for engagements from below by endorsing the socially constructed nature of identity and the denationalisation of memory. A nine-month fieldwork with five Albanian families took place in their domestic and neighbourhood settings in the areas of Athens and Piraeus. Based on critical ethnography, data collection was derived from participant observation, conversational interviews and participatory techniques. From an individual and family group point of view the notion of habitus led to diverse conceptions of ethnic identity, taking transnational dimensions in families’ literal and metaphorical back- and-forth movements between Greece and Albania.
    [Show full text]
  • 200Th Anniversary of the Greek War of Independence 1821-2021 18 1821-2021
    Special Edition: 200th Anniversary of the Greek War of Independence 1821-2021 18 1821-2021 A publication of the Dean C. and Zoë S. Pappas Interdisciplinary March 2021 VOLUME 1 ISSUE NO. 3 Center for Hellenic Studies and the Friends of Hellenic Studies From the Director Dear Friends, On March 25, 1821, in the city of Kalamata in the southern Peloponnesos, the chieftains from the region of Mani convened the Messinian Senate of Kalamata to issue a revolutionary proclamation for “Liberty.” The commander Petrobey Mavromichalis then wrote the following appeal to the Americans: “Citizens of the United States of America!…Having formed the resolution to live or die for freedom, we are drawn toward you by a just sympathy; since it is in your land that Liberty has fixed her abode, and by you that she is prized as by our fathers.” He added, “It is for you, citizens of America, to crown this glory, in aiding us to purge Greece from the barbarians, who for four hundred years have polluted the soil.” The Greek revolutionaries understood themselves as part of a universal struggle for freedom. It is this universal struggle for freedom that the Pappas Center for Hellenic Studies and Stockton University raises up and celebrates on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the beginning of the Greek Revolution in 1821. The Pappas Center IN THIS ISSUE for Hellenic Studies and the Friends of Hellenic Studies have prepared this Special Edition of the Hellenic Voice for you to enjoy. In this Special Edition, we feature the Pappas Center exhibition, The Greek Pg.
    [Show full text]
  • Britain and the Greek Security Battalions, 1943-1944
    VOL. XV, Nos. 1 & 2 SPRING-SUMMER 1988 Publisher: LEANDROS PAPATHANASIOU Editorial Board: MARIOS L. EVRIVIADES ALEXANDROS KITROEFF PETER PAPPAS YIANNIS P. ROUBATIS Managing Eidtor: SUSAN ANASTASAKOS Advisory Board: MARGARET ALEXIOU KOSTIS MOSKOFF Harvard University Thessaloniki, Greece SPYROS I. ASDRACHAS Nlcos MOUZELIS University of Paris I London School of Economics LOUKAS AXELOS JAMES PETRAS Athens, Greece S.U.N.Y. at Binghamton HAGEN FLEISCHER OLE L. SMITH University of Crete University of Copenhagen ANGELIKI E. LAIOU STAVROS B. THOMADAKIS Harvard University Baruch College, C.U.N.Y. CONSTANTINE TSOUCALAS University of Athens The Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora is a quarterly review published by Pella Publishing Company, Inc., 337 West 36th Street, New York, NY 10018-6401, U.S.A., in March, June, September, and December. Copyright © 1988 by Pella Publishing Company. ISSN 0364-2976 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS DAVID GILMORE is professor of anthropology at the State Uni- versity of New York at Stony Brook . MOLLY GREENE is a doc- toral candidate at Princeton University . CLIFFORD P. HACKETT is a former aide to U.S. Representative Benjamin Rosenthal and Senator Paul Sarbanes. He is currently administering an exchange program between the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament and is also executive director of the American Council for Jean Monnet Studies . JOHN LOUIS HONDROS is professor of history at the College of Wooster, Ohio ... ADAMANTIA POLLIS is professor of political science at the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Re- search . JOHN E. REXINE is Charles A. Dana Professor of the Classics and director of the division of the humanities at Colgate Uni- versity .
    [Show full text]
  • Greek Cultures, Traditions and People
    GREEK CULTURES, TRADITIONS AND PEOPLE Paschalis Nikolaou – Fulbright Fellow Greece ◦ What is ‘culture’? “Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts […] The word "culture" derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin "colere," which means to tend to the earth and Some grow, or cultivation and nurture. […] The term "Western culture" has come to define the culture of European countries as well as those that definitions have been heavily influenced by European immigration, such as the United States […] Western culture has its roots in the Classical Period of …when, to define, is to the Greco-Roman era and the rise of Christianity in the 14th century.” realise connections and significant overlap ◦ What do we mean by ‘tradition’? ◦ 1a: an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (such as a religious practice or a social custom) ◦ b: a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable … ◦ 2: the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction ◦ 3: cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions ◦ 4: characteristic manner, method, or style in the best liberal tradition GREECE: ANCIENT AND MODERN What we consider ancient Greece was one of the main classical The Modern Greek State was founded in 1830, following the civilizations, making important contributions to philosophy, mathematics, revolutionary war against the Ottoman Turks, which started in astronomy, and medicine.
    [Show full text]
  • By Konstantinou, Evangelos Precipitated Primarily by the Study
    by Konstantinou, Evangelos Precipitated primarily by the study of ancient Greece, a growing enthusiasm for Greece emerged in Europe from the 18th century. This enthusiasm manifested itself in literature and art in the movements referred to as classicism and neoclassicism. The founda- tions of contemporary culture were identified in the culture of Greek antiquity and there was an attempt to learn more about and even revive the latter. These efforts manifested themselves in the themes, motifs and forms employed in literature and art. How- ever, European philhellenism also had an effect in the political sphere. Numerous societies were founded to support the cause of Greek independence during the Greek War of Independence, and volunteers went to Greece to join the fight against the Ottoman Empire. Conversely, the emergence of the Enlightenment in Greece was due at least in part to the Greek students who studied at European universities and brought Enlightenment ideas with them back to Greece. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Literary and Popular Philhellenism in Europe 2. European Travellers to Greece and Their Travel Accounts 3. The Greek Enlightenment 4. Reasons for Supporting Greece 5. Philhellenic Germany 6. Lord Byron 7. European Philhellenism 8. Societies for the Support of the Greeks 9. Bavarian "State Philhellenism" 10. Jakob Philip Fallmerayer and Anti-Philhellenism 11. Appendix 1. Sources 2. Bibliography 3. Notes Indices Citation The neo-humanism of the 18th and 19th centuries contributed considerably to the emergence of a philhellenic1 climate in Europe. This new movement was founded by Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768) (ᇄ Media Link #ab), who identified aesthetic ideals and ethical norms in Greek art, and whose work Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums (1764) (ᇄ Media Link #ac) (History of the Art of Antiquity) made ancient Greece the point of departure for an aestheticizing art history and cultural history.
    [Show full text]
  • The Integration of Two Greek Cultural Immigrants of the 15 and 20 Century
    New Zealand Online Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. Volume 1. Issue 3. The Integration of Two Greek Cultural Immigrants of the 15th and 20thCentury: The Cases of Cardinal Bessarion and the Artist Constantine Andreou Dr. Sapfo Mortaki and Dr. Vasileios Pappas1 Abstract This paper focuses on the presence, activity and consequently social and cultural integration of two personalities of the Greek Diaspora. The Greek Cardinal Bessarion from Trebizond (1402-1472) migrated in 1440 in Rome, where he joined Catholicism, and was rewarded with numerous religious axioms and granted with a palace, which became a famous intellectual centre of the era. This study demonstrates Bessarion’s gentle integration and his social evolution in the host country (Italy), the recognition of his education and political influence throughout Europe, and the strong bond with his hometown as he had made a major effort for its release. Constantin Andreou was a Greek artist who migrated to Paris in 1945 with a scholarship of the French government along with many other artists and intellectuals, who were escaping the political situation in Greece after World War II. In this broader context, his artistic creation and its resonance in France, where he lived for fifty eight years, will be documented through the perception of him of the host country. Furthermore, his contribution to the development of art in his homeland will be assessed, along with the projection of Greece abroad. Keywords: migration, integration, cultural identity, Bessarion, Constantine Andreou 1See biographical note after references. 72 New Zealand Online Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. Volume 1. Issue 3. Introduction The subject of Diaspora is traditionally associated to the Greek and Jewish experience throughout the centuries (Fishman, 2004: 27).
    [Show full text]
  • Geometric & Archaic Greek
    GEOMETRIC & ARCHAIC GREEK GEOMETRIC & ARCHAIC GREECE Ancient Greek Art Can be classified into the following categories: Geometric Period ca. 900-700 B.C.E. Orientalizing Period ca. 725-600 B.C.E. Archaic Period ca. 625-480 B.C.E. --- Greeks defeat Persians 480-479 BCE --- Early Classical Period ca. 480-450 B.C.E. High Classical Period ca. 450-400 B.C.E. Late Classical Period ca. 400-330 B.C.E. Hellenistic Period ca. 330-31 B.C.E. GEOMETRIC & ARCHAIC GREECE Ancient Greek Art Mesopotamian = Worship Egyptian = Afterlife Greek = Humanism GEOMETRIC & ARCHAIC GREECE The Geometric Period The beginning of Greek art is found in painted pottery and small scale sculpture. Artists established different categories of shapes of ceramic vessels- most important was the amphora - two- handled vase used to carry wine and oil Around 800 BC, pottery began to move away from purely non-objective designs - ornamental figures. Dipylon Vase was a grave monument - bottom has holes through which liquid offerings filtered down to the dead below- done in remembrance rather than to appease the soul of the dead. Geometric Krater from the Dyplon Cemetery Athens, Greece, ca. 740 BC GEOMETRIC & ARCHAIC GREECE The Geometric Period The vase functions as a grave marker depicting the funeral procession of an obviously well respected individual. The magnitude of his funeral procession speaks to the wealth and position of the deceased family in the community. Contains no reference to an afterlife The nature of the ornamentation of these early works has led art historians to designate these as GEOMETRIC. (all empty spaces are filled with circles and M-shaped ornament.
    [Show full text]
  • AP Art History Greek Study Guide
    AP Art History Greek Study Guide "I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think." - Socrates (470-399 BCE) CH. 5 (p. 101 – 155) Textbook Timeline Geometric Archaic Early Classical High Classical Late Classical Hellenistic 900-700 600 BCE- 480 Severe 450 BCE-400 BCE 400-323 BCE 323 BCE-31 BCE BCE 480 BCE- 450 BCE BCE Artists: Phidias, Artists: Praxiteles, Artists: Pythokritos, Artists: ??? Polykleitos, Myron Scopas, Orientalizing Lysippus Polydorus, Artists: Kritios 700-600 Agesander, Artworks: Artworks: BCE Artworks: Athenodorus kouroi and Artworks: Riace warrior, Aphrodite of Knidos, korai Pedimental Zeus/Poseidon, Hermes & the Infant Artworks: sculpture of the Doryphoros, Dionysus, Dying Gaul, Temple of Diskobolos, Nike Apoxyomenos, Nike of Samothrace, Descriptions: Aphaia and the Adjusting her Farnes Herakles Barberini Faun, Idealization, Temple of Sandal Seated Boxer, Old Market Woman, Artemis, Descriptions: stylized, Laocoon & his Sons FRONTAL, Kritios boy Descriptions: NATURAL, humanized, rigid Idealization, relaxed, Descriptions: unemotional, elongation EMOTIONAL, Descriptions: PERFECTION, dramatic, Contrapposto, self-contained exaggeration, movement movement, individualistic Vocabulary 1. Acropolis 14. Frieze 27. Pediment 2. Agora 15. Gigantomachy 28. Peplos 3. Amphiprostyle 16. Isocephalism 29. Peristyle 4. Amphora 17. In Situ 30. Portico 5. Architrave 18. Ionic 31. Propylaeum 6. Athena 19. Kiln 32. Relief Sculpture 7. Canon 20. Kouros / Kore 33. Shaft 8. Caryatid / Atlantid 21. Krater 34. Stele 9. Contrapposto 22. Metope 35. Stoa 10. Corinthian 23. Mosaic 36. Tholos 11. Cornice 24. Nike 37. Triglyph 12. Doric 25. Niobe 38. Zeus 13. Entablature 26. Panatheonic Way To-do List: ● Know the key ideas, vocabulary, & dates ● Complete the notes pages / Study Guides / any flashcards you may want to add to your ongoing stack ● Visit Khan Academy Image Set Key Ideas *Athenian Agora ● Greeks are interested in the human figure the idea of Geometric perfection.
    [Show full text]
  • The Historical Review/La Revue Historique
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by MUCC (Crossref) The Historical Review/La Revue Historique Vol. 13, 2016 The resilience of Philhellenism Tolias George http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/hr.11556 Copyright © 2017 George Tolias To cite this article: Tolias, G. (2017). The resilience of Philhellenism. The Historical Review/La Revue Historique, 13, 51-70. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/hr.11556 http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 12/01/2020 21:33:32 | THE RESILIENCE OF PHILHELLENISM ’Tis Greece, but living Greece no more! So coldly sweet, so deadly fair, We start, for soul is wanting there… Lord Byron, The Giaour, 1813 George Tolias ABStraCT: This essay aims to survey certain key aspects of philhellenism underpinned by the recent and past bibliography on the issue. By exploring the definitions of the related terms, their origins and their various meanings, the paper underscores the notion of “revival” as a central working concept of philhellenic ideas and activities and explores its transformations, acceptances or rejections in Western Europe and in Greece during the period from 1770 to 1870. Philhellenisms “TheF rench are by tradition philhellenes.” With this phrase, the authors of Le Petit Robert exemplified the modern usage of the wordphilhellène , explaining that it denotes those sympathetic to Greece. Although the chosen example refers to a tradition, the noun “philhellene” entered the French vocabulary in 1825 as a historical term which denoted someone who championed the cause of Greek independence. According to the same dictionary, the term “philhellenism” started to be used in French in 1838.
    [Show full text]
  • The Greeks and the Europeans
    The Greeks and the West Hellenism, Philhellenism and other movements Introduction • One of the most significant aspects of Greek identity is the sense of continuity of Greek culture and civilization from the ancient to modern times. • This continuity is demonstrated in language, customs and traditions, and even religion. • One common mistake of the Greeks: • They tend to consider their relationship to their ancient heritage to be exclusive. • One common mistake of the Westerners: • They tend to separate Greece into ancient and modern. Isocrates Panygerikus 50 • "And so much did our city [Athens] bequeath to the other peoples in the ways of reason and speech, that her disciples did in turn enlighten others, and the name of the Hellenes is now considered pertinent not to race but rather to spirit, to the point of calling Hellenes those with whom we share education and upbringing, rather than those with whom we share in nature." Percy Shelley • “We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts have their roots in Greece." Hellenic Paideia and Church Fathers • "Throughout the Byzantine millennium, paideia -education rested on two legs: Christian and Hellenic, the Bible, and Patristic writings and the Greek classics from the Homeric epics down to the philosophers, poets, and historians of late antiquity." Greekness • Greekness should not be viewed in isolation from its historical context but as an evolutionary process of Hellenic and Eastern Orthodox religious and cultural tradition. • "Immortal like the yearning implicit in Romiosyni, that invisible and unbroken thread of Greek actualities which, as Seferis says with a profound sense of piety, is seated in the lap of the Virgin Mother." Hélène Ahrweiler Philhellenism • Philos+hellenism= love of the Greek culture • Intellectual and cultural movement at the turn of the 19th c.
    [Show full text]
  • Print This Article
    The Historical Review/La Revue Historique Vol. 13, 2016 The resilience of Philhellenism Tolias George https://doi.org/10.12681/hr.11556 Copyright © 2017 George Tolias To cite this article: Tolias, G. (2017). The resilience of Philhellenism. The Historical Review/La Revue Historique, 13, 51-70. doi:https://doi.org/10.12681/hr.11556 http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 30/09/2021 09:18:55 | THE RESILIENCE OF PHILHELLENISM ’Tis Greece, but living Greece no more! So coldly sweet, so deadly fair, We start, for soul is wanting there… Lord Byron, The Giaour, 1813 George Tolias ABStraCT: This essay aims to survey certain key aspects of philhellenism underpinned by the recent and past bibliography on the issue. By exploring the definitions of the related terms, their origins and their various meanings, the paper underscores the notion of “revival” as a central working concept of philhellenic ideas and activities and explores its transformations, acceptances or rejections in Western Europe and in Greece during the period from 1770 to 1870. Philhellenisms “TheF rench are by tradition philhellenes.” With this phrase, the authors of Le Petit Robert exemplified the modern usage of the wordphilhellène , explaining that it denotes those sympathetic to Greece. Although the chosen example refers to a tradition, the noun “philhellene” entered the French vocabulary in 1825 as a historical term which denoted someone who championed the cause of Greek independence. According to the same dictionary, the term “philhellenism” started to be used in French in 1838. It too was a historical term denoting interest in the Greek cause and support of the Greek struggle for national independence.
    [Show full text]